"Serbia is key player in region"

Despite all the difficulties, Serbia is a key player in the region and its role will increasingly come to the fore, says French Ambassador Jean-Francois Terral. In an interview with daily Danas, Terral said that during French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s recent meeting with Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic, Sarkozy had said that Serbia was a European country and that it wanted to join the EU. "Serbia is key player in region" An obstacle to this, said Terral, was the economic crisis that was forecast to last another year to 18 months. “The situation will normalize afterwards, and Serbia’s path to the EU will be open. Much, of course, depends on the abilities of the government in Belgrade. Serbia’s EU accession will come sooner or later; in any case, we’re talking about a period of several years,“ said the ambassador. He stressed that Serbia’s EU association was not only Belgrade, but the EU’s strategic goal too. He said that this had been precisely the message that Sarkozy had conveyed to Tadic. The French president had added that he would be visiting Belgrade as soon as possible, thus showing how much importance Paris attached to that goal. “Nonetheless, I believe things could move a lot quicker. Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic and the European Integration Office are working with a lot of energy and determination, but this can’t always be said for everyone in the administration, and inter-ministerial coordination could be strengthened,” the ambassador told Danas. Asked whether France could bring to bear on Holland and persuade it to change its position on application of the Interim Trade Agreement and ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, he replied that the Dutch had their opinion, and the French theirs. “We know that since the political changes of last year, Serbia really has been doing its utmost to arrest Ratko Mladic. We don’t think pressure should be exerted, as this government is sufficiently reasonable to understand where Serbia’s interests lie, and Serbia’s interest is for Mladic to be arrested. Of course, we’ve been repeating all this to the Dutch and we’re not alone in this, but we’re in a game where the rule of unanimous decision-making must be respected,“ Terral stressed.

"Serbia is key player in region"

An obstacle to this, said Terral, was the economic crisis that was forecast to last another year to 18 months.

“The situation will normalize afterwards, and Serbia’s path to the EU will be open. Much, of course, depends on the abilities of the government in Belgrade. Serbia’s EU accession will come sooner or later; in any case, we’re talking about a period of several years,“ said the ambassador.

He stressed that Serbia’s EU association was not only Belgrade, but the EU’s strategic goal too. He said that this had been precisely the message that Sarkozy had conveyed to Tadić.

The French president had added that he would be visiting Belgrade as soon as possible, thus showing how much importance Paris attached to that goal.

“Nonetheless, I believe things could move a lot quicker. Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić and the European Integration Office are working with a lot of energy and determination, but this can’t always be said for everyone in the administration, and inter-ministerial coordination could be strengthened,” the ambassador told Danas.

Asked whether France could bring to bear on Holland and persuade it to change its position on application of the Interim Trade Agreement and ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, he replied that the Dutch had their opinion, and the French theirs.

“We know that since the political changes of last year, Serbia really has been doing its utmost to arrest Ratko Mladić. We don’t think pressure should be exerted, as this government is sufficiently reasonable to understand where Serbia’s interests lie, and Serbia’s interest is for Mladić to be arrested. Of course, we’ve been repeating all this to the Dutch and we’re not alone in this, but we’re in a game where the rule of unanimous decision-making must be respected,“ Terral stressed.